It is well known in the art that, e.g., propane can be cracked to produce propylene. This propylene, as is also well known, can be disproportionated to form butylenes and ethylene. The butylenes in turn can be converted to butadiene, which is a valuable monomer for rubber polymer production.
Isoamylenes are precursors for the production of isoprene, which in turn is another valuable monomer for the production of polymers. It is known that isoamylene can be produced by disproportionating isobutylene with butene-2 and/or propylene. The isopentene obtained by this disproportionation and consisting predominantly of 2-methyl butene-2 is referred to in the following as isoamylene.
In a situation where either n-butane or isobutane is available and both products cannot reasonably be converted to higher boiling hydrocarbons, such as by an alkylation process, it would be desirable to have a process available to convert the butane products into a diene, particularly into isoprene. Isoprene can be converted into various polymers in commercially developed processes.